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A Soft Murmur – Ambient sounds to wash away distraction
- gabemart 13y agoI haven't found a way to make it work on iOS devices, unfortunately. There are many restrictions on what javascript is allowed to do, and I don't own an iOS device for testing ways around this.
- james33 13y agoUnfortunately limitations on mobile audio will make this next to impossible to work on mobile for the time being. I wrote howler.js (http://howlerjs.com http://howlerjs.com) to solve this issue, but I'm guessing your source audio files are too large to use Web Audio reliably on mobile (this would be the only way to play multiple sounds at the same time).
- wavefunction 13y agoThere is another way actually, use an HTML5 Audio tag and Base64 encode the audio files, then load that data via JavaScript into the Audio tag. I really should probably write this up on my blog... I will - and post it on HN but here's a quick overview. I'm doing this for a JavaScript library I'm working on for form-validation for the visually-impaired (coming soon!) I dynamically create a pool of audio tags via var audioTag = document.createElement("audio") then audioTag.setAttribute("autoplay","autoplay"); then audioTag.src = strSound; You don't even have to attach them to the DOM either from my experience so far (cross-browser!), just maintain the reference in memory. Then I do some eventing magic for forms and validation stuff, loading the audio from strings of Base64 encoded mp3s or wavs. This way I can package the audio I use inside the JavaScript that hooks up all the form events. And make it easy for others to override my audio samples with their own just by over-writing the strings in memory via their own .js file include.
- wavefunction 13y agoI should note that a pool of audio tags allows you to play multiple sounds at once. I've tested my lib with up to 200 simultaneous samples playing at once on a lark, since I don't need anywhere near that sort of coverage.
- gabemart 13y agoThanks, this looks interesting. Do you have a setup using this trick live on the web anywhere?
- wavefunction 13y agoI'll post it up this evening when I get home and drop you a link, thanks for the interest!
- james33 13y agoInteresting, I do a lot of audio work in the browser and somehow I've never come across this trick. Does it work on iOS?
- wavefunction 13y agoI'm pretty sure it does as I vaguely remember testing my proof-of-concept via the iPhone Simulator in xCode, though I haven't touched it in a bit with the holidays. I'm working up a simplified example to post right now. My library has a lot of extraneous stuff related to cross-browser eventing and integrates with browser extensions, so I think it would be needlessly confusing to illustrate what we're discussing
- scaphandre 13y agoWhat do you mean impossible on mobile? I've been listening to this on a Nexus 5 for 30 mins. It played straight away on Chrome. Continues playing in background tab right now.
- allannienhuis 13y agoI've successfully used a phonegap wrapper (iframe works just fine in the cases I tried) to work around the IOS auto-play and other sound restrictions. Auto play html5 audio elements 'just worked'. This might also be an alternative for whatever restrictions you're dealing with. Of course it's an app not a website, and you still need an IOS device and an apple developer account to build the app, even with 3rd party services like build.phonegap.com.
- gabemart 13y agoThanks, I'm going to look into this.
- hobo_mark 13y agoAnother amazing noise generator was featured here a few weeks ago and I've been using it ever since http://mynoise.net/ http://mynoise.net/ sadly, does not work on mobile either (somewhat on firefox for android which is too slow on my underpowered phone)
- wylee 13y agoI love this site, especially how it goes into some depth explaining the different sounds. I had no trouble with it on my S3 in Chrome.
- soundscapes 13y agoIt's a little hard to setup, but the python powered neverending soundscapes you can get at http://boodler.org/packages/ http://boodler.org/packages/ are pretty awesome... Boodler FTW!
- amolsarva 13y agoThis is real. It is why airplanes are such great places to concentrate and work. Also lower light and fewer people "induce the zone" better too.
- leeoniya 13y agoi actually work best in coffee shops. 1. silence or some monolog/dialog on tv = BAD 2. lots of people talking & background noise = GOOD brain is weird.
- 3stripe 13y agoWhen there is background noise, it feels to me as if focusing on a task drowns it out. Eg noise provides an incentive to concentrate on your work?
- audiosampling 13y agohttp://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/babbleNoiseGenerator.php http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/babbleNoiseGenerator.php
- Havoc 13y agoI get the feeling this varies greatly from person to person. e.g. If I'm in a coffee shop I pick up fragments of conversation and can't help but try & isolate specific voices. I've tried - I can't block it out. Fragments of conversation to me aren't noise...they're fragmented info requiring more brain power to decipher. This might just be me though - I think in German, read in English and hear Afrikaans in coffee shops. So I'm all kinds of messed up anyway when it comes to spoken language.
- sirsar 13y agoYou might like Coffitivity. http://www.coffitivity.com/ http://www.coffitivity.com/
- pgopalan 13y agoI've used this one before http://coffitivity.com http://coffitivity.com
- michalstanko 13y agoI use it too, and sometimes http://raining.fm http://raining.fm as well.
- pan69 13y agoI love this. I would be great if you could a) download your mix as an MP3 and/or b) open your mix in a popup window. Love the sound of rain and thunder. Makes me want to stay indoors and do stuff. I understand that this is at the moment not a problem for North Americans and Europeans but in Australia it's getting pretty hot/sticky at the moment..
- gabemart 13y agoDownloading as an mp3 is an interesting idea. It would be a good excuse for me to learn some backend stuff. This is the first thing I've ever written but I enjoyed the process a lot. The popup window idea is also good and should be much easier to implement. I'll look into it. Thanks!
- wahnfrieden 13y agoYou can encode an mp3 and have it as a downloadable file all in javascript, just FYI.
- gabemart 13y agoCould you please point me towards an example or a resource that explains how, if possible? I'm very new to javascript.
- wahnfrieden 13y agoDig into it by googling around. MP3 is probably a lot harder than other audio formats though - look into encoding a format that is widely usable such as WAV or anything you can open in iTunes and Windows Media Player etc. The downloadable content part is part of recent JS additions, google around.
- pan69 13y agoAlso, having a global volume might be handy so you push the entire sound to the background without having it affect the sound if you happen play a YouTube video or whatever.
- brianbreslin 13y agois there a pandora/spotify/rdio station anyone recommends for this? any studies on what types of noise actually induce deeper sleep?
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- dded 13y agoThe most soothing, easy-to-sleep-to sound for me is the sound of the forced-hot-air furnace in the house I grew up in. Other furnaces in other houses are OK, but nothing tops the original. I assume this is something deep in my psyche, implanted when I was very young.
- MichaelGG 13y agoI relax the best when there are other people at my house, doing their own thing. I remember from being 5 or so when my parents would have company over and it was a very reassuring feeling of hearing other people carrying on. Unfortunately, as an "adult", it doesn't seem to be very socially acceptable to throw parties then stay upstairs and hope your guests enjoy things by themselves. This motivation is very deep inside me: I went as far as giving out two free rooms to benefit from the comings-and-goings of two more people. And for a while I shared a house with my in-laws (8 people total) and found it quite enjoyable.
- elliottcarlson 13y agoPersonally I have http://RainyMood.com http://RainyMood.com and http://SimplyNoise.com http://SimplyNoise.com (on brown noise, medium oscillation) running 24/7; it helps me concentrate as well as sleep.
- arjn 13y agoThank you, I love this. I've been using rain sounds from Youtube on my tablet at night to help me sleep. This seem better and more configurable.
- Havoc 13y agoBest ambient sound site I've encountered so far. I love the DIY mixing approach. :) Gabriel - please add wind. It goes well with the rain/thunder thing. The rain sound track - it sounds realistic, but I think for this specific purpose a bit less emphasis on high frequencies might make it blend into the background better. It sounds a little too hissy. Might just be my sound setup though. I'd also suggest adding a "true" white noise track - I'm guessing much of the tech crowd would love to use that as a baseline and then add specific noises on top.
- gabemart 13y agoThanks for the feedback! Wind would be a great addition I agree. I've had a hard time finding good audio that has the right feel, but it'll be added at some point. White noise is on the todo list. What I really need to do is make the audio loading more modular. At the moment it's very naive and everything buffers at once. I want to create a system where there's a core set of sounds that load by default, and then a menu of sounds that expand and load when selected. This would mean I could support a lot more sounds. At present, to add another sample I'd have to remove something already there, because performance is a little flaky even with just the six current samples.
- carbocation 13y agoMy thoughts on wind: 1) Rustling leaves in an aspen grove. 2) Wind-whipped snow covered mountains (howling winds) Both quite different but pretty cool in the right mix.
- Havoc 13y agoRustling leaves...I like the idea of that. Its fairly difficult to come up with generic background noises that are calming at the same time. Leaves sound like a good bet though.
- finnw 13y agoIt has always seemed strange to me that some people find hostile weather sounds calming - Wind, heavy rain, thunder... those can all potentially damage the building you are in. Fire too (I like the sound of a fire only if I can see it.) Leaves would be a good addition though. So would a waterfall (there is a significant difference between a waterfall and rain.)
- cupcake-unicorn 13y agohttp://mynoise.net http://mynoise.net , which I also found on here originally, is still my favorite. Although I guess you can't mix sounds across soundscapes.
- audiosampling 13y agoYou can… by opening different soundsources in different tabs ;-) Very powerful in combination with the "Animate!" function.
- codequickly 13y agoThis is great, and I'll use this while working. I love certain sounds, but not every types of noise, so it's great to be able to choose the combination. There's a lot of ASMR youtube videos, which I find very relaxing and helps to get in the zone. However, sometimes it also helps me to fall asleep, which is bad when I want to work. Anyway, ASMR puts me in a state that is highly focused and relaxed at the same time.
- ben0x539 13y agoAaaaah, the fire has some irregular loud crackling sounds that are fairly distracting! This imaginary beach campfire party of mine isn't an ideal working environment!
- merraksh 13y agoSee also http://www.noisli.com http://www.noisli.com
- gioele 13y agoI'd appreciate if the sounds mixture could slowly but constantly change, going from the "it's going to rain soon" mix to the "it's pouring rain" mix to the "sunny with hints of birds" mix.
- gabemart 13y agoThis is a really neat idea and should be easy enough to add. Check back in a few days!
- finnw 13y agoThanks. I find some ambient sounds (especially birds & waves) help me focus on work. (Instead of rain I use pink noise from another site)
- ddoolin 13y agoGot a nice little spot on my bookmark bar...heh. Thanks. It's nice. Love the sliders/customizability.
- ChrisNorstrom 13y agoNice. I love the minimal approach. Another site like yours is http://www.NatureSoundsFor.Me http://www.NatureSoundsFor.Me which has a whole bunch of other sounds like bees, cicadas, sheep, whales, and more. I like your UI better though, it's super simple and feels like an app. I made one too a while back http://TimeforZen.com http://TimeforZen.com but it's in bad need of a redesign. I LOVE your "Fade to Slient in ___ minutes" feature. Perfect for inducing sleep.
- gabemart 13y ago> I LOVE your "Fade to Silent in ___ minutes" feature. Perfect for inducing sleep. Thanks! It's my favorite feature too. I probably need to tweak the UI a bit to made it to make it more prominent though.
- noufalibrahim 13y agoI'm really curious about TimeforZen (based on your titles for the various tracks) but none of the them load for me (Chromium/Firefox on Debian testing).
- zapt02 13y agoThis is awesome. Please add white, brown and pink noise (Like http://simplynoise.com/ http://simplynoise.com/ has). If you do that, I will be 100% sold!!!!
- userbinator 13y agoI like the sound of computer fans.. the ones I have are a soft hum, which I find rather pleasant.
- edavis 13y agoI forgot how relaxing the sound of a roaring fire can be. Great stuff.
- wavelander 13y agoBest ambience-sound site I've come across which for once really works. The sound of fire and humans is something new I've seen (or heard) in such a site. What about cricket chirps, and to be a little bold, traffic ? Traffic in the distance ?
- aaronem 13y agoVery nicely done. Bookmarked! I'm sure it would be a major effort, but it'd be nice to have the tracks crossfade into one another; right now, when a given track ends, there's a short and variable, but noticeable, interval between ending and restarting, whose presence is not a major issue but still less preferable than its absence.
- gabemart 13y agoThere's actually a feature built in to mimic cross-fading; it must have not worked for you, and that worries me a little. What browser and OS are you using please? It's not possible to do true seamless looping with HTML5 audio, but the site tries to achieve it by crossfading, as you say, using two tracks for each sample. On my setup the transition is imperceptible. I'd like to work out why it didn't work for you.
- aaronem 13y agoThanks for taking an interest! The browser which showed the problem was Firefox 24.2.0esr on Windows 7; I haven't yet tried the site in any other browsers, but I'm about to fire up my Mac and I'll give it a shot in Safari when I do. One other note: At the time I noticed the problem, I was having some slight latency issues, such that the TCP handshake could take up to 3-5 seconds to complete; I haven't tried it since that cleared up, and it seems possible that could've been the cause.
- aaronem 13y agoTest results: Safari 6.1, Mac OS X - Listened to "Thunder" track for 10 minutes; no noticeable break. Firefox 24.0, Mac OS X - Did likewise; result likewise. I'll have to try it again from home tonight and see whether it behaves better in the absence of the latency problem. Sorry for being so vague; I tend to try to characterize bug reports better than I have this one, but I was in the middle of too many things when I wrote my original comment and didn't take the time I should've.
- gabemart 13y agoThanks for following up. The system is quite sensitive to connection issues as the cross-fading only lasts 5 seconds or so. Glad it seems to be working now.
- donebizkit 13y agoBookmarked! Thanks.
- emocakes 13y agoTheres also this one http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/rainNoiseGenerator.php http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/rainNoiseGenerator.php
- croisillon 13y agoTwo comments: - maybe you could add some trees or forest option - coupled with birds it makes a good spring/summer ambient - when decreasing the human option, instead of just decreasing the loudness, it should decrease the number of people speaking ; so many people in the background, even if they seem far, doesn't make this too cozy
- mariocarvalho 13y agoI'm addicted to http://www.noisli.com/ http://www.noisli.com/
- chanux 13y agohttp://rainycafe.com http://rainycafe.com Just for the record.
- squirejons 13y agowhy is it that we sleep better with the sounds of a rainstorm going on? Because we evolved as animals being preyed upon by large predators, big cats, packs of dogs etc. When our preyed-upon ancestors heard the sounds of a rainstorm they knew that they could sleep because the predators don't usually hunt during a rainstorm, and that the predators could not smell them during a rainstorm. Evolutionarily, selection wise speaking, those who slept during a rainstorm got rested and were better rested afterward, and so were more likely to pass on their genes. The rainstorm is the friend of the prey animal.
- jpeterson 13y agoSounds vaguely plausible, but do you have any evidence that substantiates this? In particular, "taking shelter in a rainstorm" seems like a pretty far-fetched survival trait.
- squirejons 13y agounderstand this--the fingerprint of every major environmental factor can be found in our physiology. Rainstorms are a major environmental factor, and they have been such forever, going back many tens of millions of years. What happens in a rainstorm? Animals hunker down. Why? It is safe to do so for prey animals, and it would be unproductive to do otherwise for predators. That history is written in our physiology, just as every major environmental factor is written in our physiology. When I pick up a bug or a leaf or a dog or...any organism, I can see traces of that natural history written onto shape and curve of that organism's body. The dog has sharp teeth, the better to bite its prey, my dear. The leaf has a green skin, the better to turn sunlight into energy, my dear. Of course the rainstorm has left its mark on your physiology. How could it be otherwise. And here is the real mindblower--homo sapiens and american society and all parts of it are also part of the natural world. Political talking points and memes are quasi-organic, and their shapes tell you things about their natural history, too. Mind blown?
- alexbitten 13y agoPlease, make an app for that.
- tlholaday 13y agoSONOS please :-)
- DonGateley 13y agoFabulous! Best of breed for creating ambiance that I've heard and the suggestions here are bound to improve it. It works from Firefox browser on a phone (sliders don't function with Chrome and it fades out immediately on Dolphin and Android browsers.) An equalizer (even Baxendahl 2 knob tone control) would be cool but would probably be a drag on the server. FWIW regarding sleeping to ambient sound, I have an extensive collection of 'phones and 'buds of all types for R&D purposes and the hands down winner for 'buds to sleep with is the Sennheiser CX200. (Irrelevant aside: For $19 at Amazon they are also by far the best bargain I've encountered for pristine sound.)